Texas LB Malik Jefferson could leave behind a long, strange journey

Malik Jefferson has shown flashes of dominance at linebacker, but he may end his UT career without playing on a team with a winning record.

Malik Jefferson has shown flashes of dominance at linebacker, but he may end his UT career without playing on a team with a winning record.

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AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 24: Malik Jefferson #46 of the Texas Longhorns arrives at the stadium before the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) less

AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 24: Malik Jefferson #46 of the Texas Longhorns arrives at the stadium before the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2017 in ... more

Photo: Tim Warner, Stringer / Getty Images

Texas LB Malik Jefferson could leave behind a long, strange journey

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HOUSTON — Just over three years ago, on Dec. 19, 2014, a universally hailed linebacker from Mesquite Poteet stood on stage in front of friends, family and a flock of media members. Armed with an enchantingly toothy grin, he positioned a black, Longhorn-emblazoned hat on top of his cascading dreadlocks. During that same ceremony, the linebacker’s teammate, four-star receiver DeAndre McNeal, followed suit.

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McNeal didn’t last long under former UT coach Charlie Strong. He was suspended in August 2016 for violating team rules and transferred shortly after. The linebacker, however, remains.

Malik Jefferson’s journey has been a strange one, particularly for a five-star recruit who arrived in Austin with astronomical expectations. He started nine games as a true freshman and earned Big 12 defensive freshman of the year honors, but UT lost seven games.

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Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl

Texas vs. Missouri

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Where: NRG Stadium, Houston

As a sophomore, Jefferson went from defensive savior to benched midway through the program’s third straight seven-loss campaign. The demotion didn’t last, but most objective parties deemed his second season an abject failure.

Jefferson sequestered himself from the spotlight for months after the 2016 season. Rumors of a rift between the junior and new coach Tom Herman following a February meeting stoked questions about what his role might be within this new regime.

The coach pushed back against the notion of a fissure in their relationship.

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“Malik is a fantastic leader, fantastic ambassador for our program,” Herman said. “In February, we had a really good heart-to-heart about what he wanted to get out of this season. He said, ‘Coach, I want to be as good as a linebacker and as good a leader and teammate as I can be.’ I said, ‘Great.’ ”

Still, Jefferson was not among the Longhorns chosen to attend Big 12 media days. And he was not selected as one of four team captains for the 2017 campaign.

None of those factors seemed to weigh on Jefferson when he broke that extended media silence in August. In fact, it seemed this was all by design.

“I didn’t mind it at all,” Jefferson said. “I had a long talk with my family, and we all discussed it. It’s something that I needed to do to focus on myself, to look at myself, because sometimes you’ve got to look in the mirror to find your mistakes. Hearing the outside noise, it’s kind of hard to distinguish that. But it definitely helped me.”

Jefferson said “I opened my chest,” and gave its contents to defensive coordinator Todd Orlando. He sounded like a convert who had discovered something profound in a new religion or philosophy. But the results vindicated Jefferson’s revamped mindset.

He paced UT with 110 tackles, second most in the Big 12, and 10 tackles for loss. He tied for the team lead with four sacks and was named the conference’s co-defensive player of the year. Among Big 12 teams, the Longhorns ranked second in total defense and third in scoring defense, up from seventh and eighth, respectively, last year.

Though Jefferson is as talented as any Longhorns linebacker since Derrick Johnson, there still exists a chance he could leave school without a single winning season or bowl title. Texas (6-6) will enter the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium on Wednesday needing a victory over Missouri (7-5) to avoid a fourth consecutive losing season. That hasn’t happened to UT since the 1930s.

And Jefferson, who is battling a severe turf toe injury, is doubtful to even play, according to Herman and Orlando. Given his potential as an early-round NFL draft pick, the world likely has already seen his last game in burnt orange.

But as fellow juniors DeShon Elliott, Holton Hill, Connor Williams and Michael Dickson announced their choice to turn pro, Jefferson wavered. Maybe he wants one more shot at redefining a complicated legacy. Maybe he wants to boost his draft stock. Or maybe he isn’t yet ready to leave all this behind.

“It’s going to be a hard decision,” Jefferson said after a 27-23 loss to Texas Tech. “Looking in that locker room, I look at those guys to the left and right of me and I just smile because I love the things we’ve been through. It’s been a tough past three years, but guys understand the love that I have for them.”